IBIA: suspicious betting alerts up 11 per cent in first quarter
The International Betting Integrity Association has published its quarterly report.
UK.- The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) identified 63 cases of potentially suspicious betting activity in the first quarter of the year. The figure represents a decline of 3 per cent compared to the previous quarter but a rise of 11 per cent year-over-year from 57 alerts reported in Q1 2024.
The incidents reported cover six sports across 23 countries. Football and tennis remain the sports responsible for he lion’s share of reports at 40 alerts, up from 35 in Q4 2024. There were nine cases related to table tennis, which reflects a drop to more usual numbers after a spike in Q4.
Geographically, suspicious betting cases reported in Europe and North America represented more than half of all alerts but cases were lower than in the previous quarter.
IBIA CEO Khalid Ali said: “The quarter-on-quarter decline primarily stems from a reduction in tennis-related alerts, which have shown a positive downward trend in recent years.”
IBIA oversees the integrity of more than $300bn in annual betting turnover generated by its 80-plus member operators, which collectively manage over 140 sports betting brands worldwide.
For 2024 as a whole, it received 219 suspicious betting alerts, a rise of 17 per cent from 187 in 2023 but below the 268 alerts reported in 2022.
Europe saw a notable improvement, with the number of suspicious betting incidents reported falling from 113 in 2023 to 80 in 2024. However, the number of alerts from Asia rose from 17 to 40 and the number from Africa rose from 16 to 28. An increase in alerts could also mean better detection and reporting.
Football and tennis continue to account for the majority of alerts at 61 per cent. There were 75 alerts related to football and 36 related to tennis. Table tennis came third again with 36 incidents reported. As for geography, alerts came from 53 countries. The Czech Republic had the highest tally at 19, followed by Turkey at 11.
